Pneumatic pump.



C. L. REDHELD.

PNEUMATIC PUMP.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 31. 1913.

1 ,205,39 1 Patented Nov. 21,- 1916.

2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

LJiiaafej: Jame/fir c L. REDFIELD.

PNEUMATIC PUMP.

APPLICATION FILED MAR- 3111913.

Patented Nov. 21, 1916.

2 SHEETSSHEET 2.

UNITED STATES CASPER L. REDFIELD, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

PNEUMATIC PUMP.

Application filed March 31,

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, CASPER L. REDFIELD, acitizen of the United States of America, and a resident of Chicago,county of Cook, and State of Illinois, have invented certain new anduseful Improvements in Pneumatic Pumps, of which the following is aspecification.

My invention relates to pneumatic pumps of the submerged type, and hasfor its object improvements in pumps of that charac-f, ter.

In the accompanying drawings Figure 1 is an elevation, partly insection; Fig. 2 is an enlarged plan; Fig. 3 is a section on line 3-3 ofFig. 2, showing the upper portions only; Fig. 4 is a section on line 44of Fig. 3; Fig. 5 is a section on line 5.5 of Fig. 2, showing the lowerportions only; and Fig. 6 is a perspective view of the main valve.

The pump in the present case consists of two adjacent cylinders 10havingtheir ends closed by a head or cap 11 and a base 12, which cap andbase are held in place by bolts 13 and nuts 14.

Theupper central portion of the cap 11 is raised to form a valvechest'15 which has cored therein certain passageways for air inlet andair outlet. The chest 15 is bored out horizontally and has insertedtherein a bushing 16 provided with ports which match the inletpassageway 17 and the outlet passageways 18, 19, 20 and 21. Thesepassageways run aroundthe bushing 16,'and the ports may be simply holesdrilled thru the bushing. The outlet passageways 20 and 21 also serve,as inlet passageways.

Inside of the bushing 16 is a tubular valve 22 which is shorter than thebushing 16 by a distance which is equal to the distance between thecenters of any two of the adjacent passageways 18 to 21. The valve 22 ismovable lengthwise in the bushing 16 and has ports which match the portsin the bushmg when the valve isat either extreme of its movement. Thevalve, however, has one less circumferential row of ports than in thebushing. The valve 22' is held from rotary displacement in the bushing16 by a pin 23 in the valve which slides in the slot 24 in the bushing.The interior of the valve 22 is divided into compartments by transverseheads 25, 26 and 27 so that two rows of ports lie between heads and 26,and two rows between heads 26 and 27. In the bushing 16, at a pointwhere it matches the inlet pas- Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 21, 1916. 1913. Serial No. 757,861.

shown in Fig; 6. The ends of the channel 29 are'reduced, as shown at 30,so that the ultimate opening is about the size of a pin hole. The openends of the valve chest 15 are closed by plugs 31 which also serve asstops for the longitudinal movements of the valve 22. .i

Screwed into the inner face of the head or caprll opposite the ends ofthe bushing 16 are plugs 32 which are bored out to receive the ends ofthe small pipes 33 and to permit said pipes to reciprocate therein. Theopenings into which the plugs 32 are screwed are in communication withthe interior of the bushing 16 thru the slot 24 at one end and a similarslot 34 at the other end. The upper ends of the plugs 32 are reduced indiameter. Small holes 35, located'as shown in Fig. 3, furnishcommunication between the exterior and interior of plugs 32.

On the pipes 33 are collars 36 so located that when a collar is againstits plug, the upper end of the pipe 33 will act as a valve to closeports 35. On each plug 32 is a cap 37 for limiting the downward movementof the pipe 33 so that itwill just open the ports and thus'permitcommunication between the interior of the bushing 16 and the interior ofthe pipe 33. The lower ends of the" I pipes 33 extend thru the base 12as shown in Fig. 5.

The base 12 is, in plan, the same shape as the cap 11, and has portswhich serve as inlet openings for water. normally closed by inwardlyopening flap valves 39 supported on bridges 40 and held in place by bars41. The pipes 33 run thru and are guided by the bridges 40. Secured oneach pipe 33, as near as practicable to the bottom of the cylinder 10,is a water cup 42. This cup is counterbalanced by a weight 43 pivoted at44 to a lug on the bar 41. The counterbalancing weight is so related tothe weight of the cup 42 and pipe 33 that when the cup is submerged theweight 43 will raise the cup and consequently the pipe 33 to close theports 35,

while when the cup is out of the water and These ports are culty arisingfrom leakage of the float. For the sake of simplicity of language, Iwill hereinafter refer to this device as a float when I wish todesignate the action performed, and as a cup when I wish to refer to thespecific construction by which I overcome one of the objections to anordinary float.

On the bottom of the base 12 is a supplementary ring 51,,and betweenthisring and the base is held a screen 52.

At the side of the valve chest 15, and forming a part of the cap 11, isa boss eta).

This boss is cored outin the interior (see 46, Fig. i) and has threeopenings to the outside of the cap 11. One of these 1s to the top of thecap 11 andis for the receptionof the water discharge pipe l'xwvhile theothers are to the bottom of the cap-11 in the'two cylinders 10 and arefor the inner discharge pipes e8. The pipes i8 extend close to thebottom of the cylinders 10 and are providedwith upwardly opening checkvalves, not shown. Secured in another boss 49, on the chest 15, is anair inlet pipe 50 which communicates with the passageway 17.

The pipe 50 is connected to a source of compressed air, preferably froma reservoir, and. pressure is always on in passageway 17 which isincommunication with this pipe. The pipe at! leads to the place at whichwater is to be delivered and its-discharge end is normally closed by afaucet: Flow of airthru the pipe 50' is prevented when the faucet isclosed because there is no place to which the air can force the water incyl- V inders 10.

Assumingthat the parts are in the position shown in Fig. 3, that bothcylinders 10 are full of water, and that the faucet at the discharge endof the pipe 47 is opened. then air willqfiow from passageway 17 thruports in the bushing 16 and valve 22,;and passageway 20 into the righthand cylinder 10 andjforce the water therein up the pipe 48, thru thechannel 46 and pipe 47 to the place of discharge. When the water fallsbelow the float i2 this fioatand the pipe 33 will fall' to open theports 35 which communicate withthe space at the right hand of the valve'As the spaces at both ends of the valve are in communication with thefull air pressure in pipe 50 thru hole 28, channel 29 and thesmallopenings 30, there is normally full air pressure at both'ends of thevalve The ports and the interiors of the pipes 33 are of much largerarea than the openings -30. with a consequence that when the pipe 33falls to open the ports the compressed air in the; space at the right ofthe valve 22 escapes thru the pipes into the water in the base 1'2.There is no difficulty about this because the head of water in the baseis only hat of which the pump is submerged, while the pressure in thepipe 50 is pressure at the left end forces the valve to its extremeposition to the right against the corresponding plug 31.

The shifting of the valve to the ri -ht connects the passageway 17with21 and permits the air, pressure to enter the left hand cylinder 10and force the water therein. thru its pipes 48, the channel L6 and thedischarge'pi-pe e7. Thesa-me movement of. the valve. also-connects thepassageway 20 with theexhaushopening 1.8 and permits the compressed airin the right hand cylinder to escape. \Vhen thisaoccm's, the valves firise and Water flows intov the cylinder thru the ports 38 in the base;lVhen: the water rises in the right hand cylinder above the float 42,the ports 35 will beclosed and full air pressure Will again accumulateat the right endof valve 22. This, however, will not affect thevalvebecause'full air pres sure also existsat the left end until thefloat in the left handrcylinder opens the ports 35 at that:end. Thevarious inlet and outlet passageways-are so proportioned toeachother'that-th'e cylinders will fill thru ports 38 more rapidly thanthey will empty thru pipe 47. When the 7 Water level in the lefthandcylinder falls below its float &2, air will escape from the. left end ofvalve 22 and permit the compressed air atthe right-end to return thevalve to its previous position.

It will be observed from theforegoing description thatthe opening andclosing of air portsis controlled entirely by the pressureofth'e airused to operate the pump, and that the openingand closing is'controlledbythe water level in the pump. Also, that'the air valve is simple inconstruction, is a balanced valve, and cannot become displaced-or out oforder. Andfurther, that there are no floats to leak andno levers to getout of order.

The only lever of any kind is the loosely pivoted weight 43 confined Iwithin limited space. The floats have a-very short movement and =have nowork to perform other than to release'th'e power. As a consequencetheymay be of relatively small size; The

supplementary valves which open the eX- 1 h'aust for operating the mainvalve, being lorated below the main valve and discharging downward serveto drain from the spaces at the ends of the main valve any waterthat'may accumulate therein.

vided with an interior valve chamber, a

valve in said chamber, openings thru said cap from the interiors of saidcylinders to the ends of the valve cylinder, and supplementary valveslocated in said openings and each controlled separately by the waterlevel of the cylinder with which it is associated.

2. In a pneumaticpump, a hollow valve provided with ports furnishingindependent passageways therethru, a conduit by which air pressure isconveyed to the ends of the valve, two chambers to which air is admittedand from which it is, exhausted thru the passageways in the valves, andmeans located in the chambers forcontrolling the pressure at the ends ofthe valve.

3. In a pneumatic pump, a main valve controlling the operation of thepump, means for applying compressed air to move the valve, asupplementary valve controlling the application of air to the mainvalve, a float, a connection from the float to the supplementary valvefor operating it, and means by which the air exhausted by a movement ofthe supplementary valve will be discharged thru said connection.

In a pneumatic pump, an air actuated valve for controlling the pump, afloat and connections for opening an exhaust for the air used to actuatethe valve, and means for discharging such exhaust thru said connections.

Signed at Chicago, Illinois, of March, 1913.

CASPER L. REDFIELD.

this 29th day lVitnesses C. H. STAFFORD, WALTER H. REDFIELD.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, I) G.

